Government Information
Below is just a sampling of some of the types of government documents you can find using specialized search tools.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
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Use the filters in ProQuest Congressional to find
CRS Reports - original research done on behalf of Congress
Published Hearings - a great place to find expert tesimony
Committee Prints
Congressional Record - transcription of floor discussion and debate
Legislative Histories - summaries of the histories of selected legislation - ProQuest Regulatory Insight This link opens in a new window
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If your topic leads you into the Federal Register for Executive Orders or details of rules and fund allocation, this database does a better job of linking related documents than the free government web sites.
Go directly to a publication like the Budget of the United States, Public Laws, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations or just search. The filters let you narrow in helpful ways like, for example, by Government Author, Agency, Organization, or named person.
- Executive Orders - Federal RegisterAll executive orders in text, spreadsheet, and JSON formats since 1994.
- Legislative Process - ProQuest Legislative InsightProvides a visual legislative history - just enter a bill number. A great way to link related bills, hearings, testimonies, and public laws.
- Office of Foreign Assets Control - Sanctions Programs and InformationThe Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy. Use the navigation on the left to look at SDN List and Data.
Foreign Policy Documents
- Foreign Relations of the United States (State.gov)From the State Dept. Historian, documents from Lincoln through Bill Clinton (1861-2001).
- FBIS: Foreign Broadcast Information Service This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations and the full text)
Translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from around the globe, 1941 - 1996. - Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations and the full text)
A comprehensive set of declassified government documents, 1942-current.
- U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact SheetsCovers all the countries of the world with which the United States has relations. Each report contains info on bilateral relations with the U.S., travel, and business. There are also additional useful links, including a link to the CIA World Factbook entry for each country.
- Treaties GuideList compiled by Carleton Librarians of relevant treaty information.
- U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants (Greenbook)The annual report to Congress on U.S foreign assistance flows is required by the Foreign Assistance Act, Section 634 and is the authoritative data set of U.S. foreign assistance.
- National Security Archive at George Washington University"Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents..."
- Avalon ProjectContains documents relating to law, economics, history, and diplomacy. Collection is browsable by topic and time period and searchable by keyword.
- The American Presidency ProjectThis archive from UCSB contains public papers of the presidents dating back to 1789.
- US Foreign Policy Research (National Archives)Guide provided by the National Archives on how to navigate the byzantine network of foreign policy documents held by government agencies.
Reports - Analysis from Many Sources
A key source type for policy analysis is reports written by involved parties. Your strategy might be to think of as many players as possible who might write reports that would touch on your policy issue, for example:
- Embassies
- Local Government Agencies
- U.S. Government Agencies
- Special agencies or organizations tasked with carrying out policy
- Issue organizations and intergovernmental organizations that have a stake in tracking the issue
- Other actors whose approaches are alternatives or competitors to the policy of interest
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports on issues of interest to U.S. legislators (see government document section of this guide)
Following are some strategies for finding annual reports.
- Go directly to the web sites of the individuals and organizations listed above and browse the navigation
- It is common to find documents through directed digging that you *will not find* through search alone. (For example, the Tanzania Commission for AIDS web site has an annual report. If you search the site for it, it doesn't come up. If you use Google to search the site, it doesn't come up. Only browsing the site to annual reports brings it up).
- Data that are highly contextual are likely to be found here. Look for terms like: data, statistics, dashboard.
- Use Google to search only those sites:
- ex: pepfar site:tacaids.go.tz
- Use Google to find reports from any source - use broad terms
- [your issue] plus annual report -- ex: tanzania hiv annual report
- [your issue] plus filetype:pdf -- ex: tanzania pepfar filetype:pdf
